IN THE LOOP: SUNDAY 5:31 P.M.

Sunday 5:31 P.m.

April 02, 2006|By Jessica Reaves

A DECADE HAS elapsed since the wrecking ball was stymied outside St. Mary of the Angels Catholic Church, but parishioners, past and present, aren't taking any chances with the future. "They saved it about 10 years ago," says Norman Sieroslawski of Chicago, seen here on the right, taking in St. Mary's Mardi Gras fundraising dance alongside his longtime friend Thomas White. "And now," says Sieroslawski, "they're working on everything--they're going to renew the benches, the steeples and angels." Sieroslawski went to school at the historic Bucktown church, and while he worships at a different church these days, he occasionally revisits his old stomping grounds, either for mass or for a fundraiser. "It's a nice church and they have a gift shop," he says. "And they're in the yuppie area, which helps them a lot."